


Overprotection

by alphera



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Because seriously Sherlock has no survival skills, Mycroft's Meddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-30
Updated: 2012-07-30
Packaged: 2017-11-11 01:52:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/473141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphera/pseuds/alphera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock, obviously, cannot possibly survive on his own. </p><p>Three people in Sherlock's life who make it their business to keep him safe, and the different ways they do it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mycroft

When Sherlock was born, he almost died. The umbilical cord was wound around his neck, and it was almost too late before anyone realised. Mummy had to explain it to Mycroft when she went home without the baby.  
  
When Sherlock was seventeen months old, he nearly fell off the second storey balcony. Mycroft was in bed, Mummy and Da had work, and Nanny was sick. One of the younger maids was watching over Sherlock when the bell rang, and she just left him in the balcony, where she was feeding him. Mycroft came in right before Sherlock could squeeze through the wide bars and die.  
  
When Sherlock was five, he wanted to drink Aunt Martha’s perfume. It smelled of strawberries, and she had poured it into a glass when the bottle broke. Mycroft was looking for him then, and took it away before he could. The older boy never forgave her for it.  
  
When Sherlock was eight, he almost got hit by a car. They were walking down the street, and he saw an interesting pattern on the road. Mycroft pulled him back to the sidewalk just as a cherry red open-top sped past.  
  
When Sherlock was twelve, he nearly got kidnapped. Mycroft was home for the holidays, and Sherlock told him a man in a hat started following him around, but no one believed him. Mycroft watched him come home from the window the next day, and called the police when he saw the man following Sherlock from the shadows.  
  
The first year Sherlock was in university, he became very ill. He was living alone and always forgot to eat. He read his books and never slept. He got sick and never took care of himself. Mycroft found him unconscious in his dormitory one day.  
  
The fifth year Mycroft was in government, someone tried to kill Sherlock. Mycroft hated legwork, but when he found out, he went out to fire the gun himself. The would-be assassin was only five blocks from Sherlock’s apartment when Mycroft came along. Mycroft never forgave himself for letting the man get that near.  
  
  
Sherlock is brilliant, but it just means the world is more eager to hurt him. What people didn’t seem to understand about Sherlock is that there is no way he’d have survived the world on his own. So Mycroft watches and smothers and controls. He will bend the world so Sherlock can stay brilliant and vibrant and alive.


	2. Mummy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein Mycroft continues to be a scary, scary person, and Mummy Holmes does too.

If you really think about it, seven years wasn’t _that_ big of an age difference. It meant that, when the new baby was born, the big brother was still a child himself. But there were seven-year-old children, and there was seven-year-old Mycroft.  
  
Once, when Sherlock was in play-school, the teacher called her to pick him up. “Always disruptive” the voice on the phone said, “strange” it continued, barely below a shout. As she was preparing to leave, Mycroft, who had refused to go to his own school that day, insisted on going with her to Sherlock’s. When she finally found her littlest boy (who had climbed into a high shelf looking for the biscuits), Mycroft came in with the pasty, white-faced teacher, who called Sherlock a “very nice, very special boy” and patted the three-year old on the head as they left.  
  
“Mummy,” Mycroft told her that night, “Sherlock’s too smart for play-school.”  
  
They never went back. About a week later, when she was over at Mrs. Ross’ for tea, the other mums gossiped about how Ms. Price of the play-school just packed up and went away.  
  
She knew, of course. And wholly approved. Sherlock was special. Gifted so much above others. Who had the right to belittle him because of that? If they didn’t understand him, they could have just said that and be done with, thank you very much. What kind of a woman insulted three-year olds and called them strange? But Mycroft was always a bit over-protective about Sherlock, ever since she came home without the baby. He watched the nannies watch Sherlock, and trusted his brother with no one but Mummy.  
  
Mycroft could be such a worrier, and she knew Sherlock felt a little smothered, but he was their baby, and it was always better to be careful. So she always explained to Sherlock that Mycroft just wanted to keep him safe.  
  
  
It upsets her when her boys fight (rather, when Sherlock sulks), but it upsets her more when she doesn’t know how her baby has been, so she tells her big boy to keep watching but to stop controlling, that Sherlock needs a little freedom to be happy.  
  
Mycroft has never been good about leaving people alone, so even when he stops controlling Sherlock, he keeps controlling everyone else. It upsets Sherlock, but she finds it comforting. She knows Mycroft will move the universe to keep their little family safe.


	3. John

Frankly, John should have hated Sherlock on sight. 

After all, one look at the man and anyone - at least anyone with ears and half a functioning brain - could tell he was self-absorbed and arrogant. Nothing Sherlock did at first really pointed otherwise; he antagonised everyone he met just because he thought he was always right (okay, so he almost always was - but that was not the point), _and_ he invited John to go with him to some random crime scene with _no elevator, just stairs_ , only to leave him there. So when a dangerous man (after all, who could control London’s CCTV system and _not_ be dangerous?) essentially threatened _and_ bribed John to spy on Sherlock, no one was more surprised than John when he answered “no” as strongly as he did.  
  
Alright, so John wasn’t exactly the type of person to agree to spy on _anyone_ , but the ex-soldier was sure that his answer wasn’t just a ‘no-on-principle’ as it should have been. If it was just that, his jaw wouldn’t have tightened that much and his fists wouldn’t have clenched enough to leave nail marks on his palms. Nor would he have felt the slow burn of anger travel through his spine.  
  
But that was how he felt.  
  
It was only later - after Sherlock led him through a merry chase all over London where he ended up leaving his cane at Angelo’s - that John understood, just a little bit, why he felt so strongly about Sherlock.  
  
Sure, Sherlock was a grade-A prick, but in his own strange way, he really did care about people. It didn’t matter how much Sherlock hid behind his 'sociopathic' persona; John had seen, at that moment, what was really in there. (John would doubt this at times, later on - but he’d always remember this moment, along with all of Sherlock’s smiles and Sherlock’s sheer drive to solve cases - and he’d believe). So it was less surprising to John that, just a few short hours later, he’d unhesitatingly killed a man to keep Sherlock from danger.  
  
And then - after he found out that the mysterious CCTV-man was Sherlock’s older brother, it was an easy thing for John to realise that, well, Sherlock didn’t _need_ any additional protection. After all, who could do a better job than the man powerful enough to, as Sherlock claimed, _be_ the British government. But then, John remembered seeing Sherlock through a window, pill in hand, and he knew that even though he may not exactly be _better_ for the job, he’d never be able to stop himself.  
  
  
Besides, John thinks, Sherlock doesn’t need a keeper. He needs someone willing to be in on the ride. After all, while it’s true that John can never be as all-reaching as Mycroft, who better to keep an extra eye on Sherlock than someone right there with him? Always.

**Author's Note:**

> Archived from [livejournal](http://alphera.livejournal.com). As with almost everything I write, beta'd by the wonderful [rougewinter](http://archiveofourown.org/users/rougewinter).


End file.
